MPD Detective Chris Ashley discusses the Highland Heights precinct with a CPA students during a tour Tuesday night. The mini-precinct was established in 1998 to combat crime in the housing project. TMP/M. Willard
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Of all the calls for help received by the Murfreesboro Police Department, 40 percent are domestic violence related, Detective Sgt. Amy Dean said at the Citizens Police Academy on Tuesday night.
The number of domestic violence cases has increased substantially since she started working with MPD in 1991. It stems from more public education on the subject and tougher laws enacted in the mid-1990s, Dean said.
“Thought is if anyone intervened between O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown, it would have ended differently,” she explained.
Click here to see the 15 warning signs that a relationship is abusive.
Dean laid down very sobering statistics about the amount of domestic violence experienced across the nation, calling domestic violence an epidemic.
Domestic violence costs the nation and estimated $44 million per year to treat associated injuries, she said.
Quoting the American Medical Association and National Institute of Justice, Dean said roughly 6 million women report domestic violence yearly. It is the leading cause of murder and most common cause of injury for women.
But women aren’t the only ones abused. Nationwide 90 percent of reported batterers are male, but she estimates about 85 percent of calls received at MPD involve a male batterer.
“And that number for us is coming down,” she said, adding more men are less ashamed of reporting abuse now than before.
When MPD responds to a domestic violence call, the officers always arrive in pairs and determine who the predominant aggressor is, Dean explained.
Then the officers are required to fill out a report and make an arrest by state law.
The department always responds to domestics, because of the escalating nature of the violence, she said.
“Whether you go once or 101 times, you never know which one will be it. You never know what family will be it,” she said.
Helpful Phone Numbers:
MPD Domestic Violence Unit – 615-893-2717 or adean@ ci.murfreesboro.tn.us
National Domestic Violence Hotline – 800-799-SAFE
Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence – 800-289-9018
Rutherford County Domestic Violence Court Coordinator – 615-494-9710
First Call for Help – 615-907-1114
Community Helpers – 615-898-0617
Child Advocacy Center – 615-867-9000
Exchange Club Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse – 615-890-4673
United Way of Rutherford & Cannon Counties – 615-896-2012
The Domestic Violence Program – 615-896-2012
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